Page 73 of Operation: Silent Angel
“Sounds good,” Mac said. He figured he’d be in town that week as well.
Next, Garcia showed Mac to his office down the hall from Flores’. It was the same as all the other offices on the eighth and seventh floors. A desk and office chair, with two guest chairs in front of it, and a file cabinet shelf combo behind it. And a comfortable couch and table near the door. His name was already on the door. He left his computer tablet on the desk.
They descended the stairs to the fourth floor. The door from the stairwell dumped them into the medical suite of offices. Each team’s medic had an office. Doc’s office was the only one with a light on. Doc was ready. He had an intimidating-looking piece of equipment laid out on a tray with a bandage and an icepack. Yvette had warned him how the tracker smarted as it entered theskin and muscle of the shoulder. He wasn’t looking forward to this.
“Hi Mac,” Doc greeted. “Welcome to the team.”
Mac couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks, it’s actually kind of surreal.”
Doc nodded. He tapped the chair he had ready. “Take your shirt off and straddle this and we’ll get it injected.”
“Okay, you have access to the stairs and elevator. When you’re done here, go back to your office and work on your training modules for as long as you want. One of the first modules includes the agency calendar for logging your in and out status when you’re working in the office. Remember to log out whenever you decide to go home for the night.”
“So there’s no set schedule for the next week or so while I’m training?”
“Cooper will push through to you via calendar invite anything he’ll work with you on, but otherwise, set your own schedule and work on your online training modules until they’re done,” Garcia said. “Shepherd expects at least forty hours a week when you’re in the office unless there’s been a discussion with him to the contrary,” Garcia said. “I’ll catch you later.”
After Garcia left, Mac pulled his long-sleeved Henley over his head. His weapon was holstered in the small of his back, tucked into his blue jeans. He noticed Doc wore his openly on his righthip. He knew it was the expectation that everyone in the office was armed at all times. Yvette had told him that if Angel didn’t wear clothes that allowed for it as she often wore dresses or skirts, she had one inside her top desk drawer. There was also a weapon in a special compartment of her desk mounted so that it would take out anyone standing directly in front of the bullet-proof glass window that separated her from the waiting room.
Doc laid the cold icepack onto his upper shoulder on his back without warning. “Damn is that cold,” Mac said, surprised by the sudden sensation.
“We’ll numb it with the icepack for a few minutes before I inject it,” Doc said.
Five minutes later, Doc removed the icepack, ran an alcohol pad over it, and lined up the tracker installation device. A pull of the trigger and the tracker sliced through his skin and imbedded the device inside the muscle in his shoulder.
A painful electric sensation jolted Mac and ran down his arm. He winced and went rigid. He felt a wiping sensation on his shoulder and then the bandage being applied, followed by the icepack again being sat on it.
Doc lifted his phone from the desk. He hit dial.
Yvette answered. “Hi Doc. I see Mac’s tracker online.”
“Thank you for the confirmation,” Doc said.
“You’re welcome.” She disconnected the call. Knowing once Mac was done with Doc that he’d be on his own, she planned to message him shortly.
“That’s it,” Doc said. “If it hurts keep ice on it for no longer than fifteen minutes every hour for the next few hours. I put a bandage on it which will protect it if you shower while the incision heals over the next few days. Try not to overwork it with too much exercise in the next twelve hours and no lifting weights for about twenty-four hours.”
Mac nodded. He didn’t plan to do anything strenuous in the next day so that advice was unnecessary. Mac stood and put his shirt back on. “Thanks.”
“I have medical oversight over all the teams and the medic on each team has responsibility over his team members as well. Either the team medic or I can pull anyone from duty at any time if we believe they are physically not up to par. Our team shrink has similar oversite regarding mental health. Your team medic is currently on a mission. If you have any issues, I’m your point of contact, unless it’s an emergency but even then, you need to call me after you dial 9-1-1.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
He left Doc’s office and returned to his office on the seventh floor. He settled in to work on his training modules. He’d stay until he was tired, hoping to knock most of the twenty hours’ worth of training out in the next three days in addition to whatever skills check schedule Cooper set.
Victor
Mac completed all of his online training, scoring mastery of subject matter, plus checked off every box on Cooper’s skills checklist within two and a half weeks of his hire date. Shepherd had negotiated with Beauregard Mason, the Deputy Director of the CIA and his contact, that one comprehensive assessment test was all that would be necessary for Mac’s credentials to be issued.
Mac passed the test with flying colors.
The two and a half weeks passed quickly for Mac, and he’d enjoyed the time with Yvette, opting to work a similar schedule as hers when possible. They made love nearly every day, which further bonded them. The real connection occurred in the everyday moments of doing laundry together, cooking, and shopping. They went on runs together several times over the two and a half weeks and worked out in the Shepherd Security gym together, but usually with other team members in the room.
Mac ate lunch in the office with other team members most days, getting to know more of them and getting to know those he was acquainted with better. By the end of the two weeks, he really felt as though he was a part of the team, which surprised him after operating solo for so long. It was a feeling he liked.
It was November 18. There was one more week until Thanksgiving, when the agency would officially shut down for the holiday, Wednesday through Sunday, unless there was an emergency. On an immediate call-in standby status were Delta Team plus two volunteers from Echo Team, BT and Roth. Bravo Team plus Garcia was the secondary standby team with a two-hour call-in status. And of course, it was understood by every team member that if something major went down, they could all be scrambled. Shepherd had not listed them as unavailable to the DoD. He’d do that over the Christmas holiday for several days, though.
However, before the Thanksgiving holiday, there was one more mission scheduled for most teams. It would be Mac’s first mission, deploying with Bravo Team plus Cooper. Prior to the mission briefing, he had one last onboarding hurdle. A meeting with the team shrink, Dr. Joe Lassiter. It would be his first time meeting the man he’d heard so much about. Usually, he would have had a meeting with him within a few days of his hire date, but Joe had been on vacation, a rarity, Mac was told.
